dedicated, air-gapped Windows box used for legacy industrial software
Aside from “lightweight apps in VM” this is the only solution I use now. (Unless you count Proton, but having Steam games Just Work barely feels like a “solution” as it requires zero effort on my part)
I don’t even trust Windows to dual boot off a separate disk without trying to break something anymore.
This would work but assumes the primary use of the machine is Windows and derates your performance under Linux significantly due to USB speeds. Even if you’re storing your data on the Windows HDD, NTFS drivers are dog slow compared to EXT4 and other *nix filesystems.
Also some BIOSes are a pain to get to boot off removable drives reliably so it really depends on what your machine is.
I’ve used Linux as a primary dev system for well over a decade now, and with the current state of Windows I’d really recommend just taking the leap, keep your Windows box if you need Windows software and build a dedicated Linux workstation.
You’re missing one:
Aside from “lightweight apps in VM” this is the only solution I use now. (Unless you count Proton, but having Steam games Just Work barely feels like a “solution” as it requires zero effort on my part)
I don’t even trust Windows to dual boot off a separate disk without trying to break something anymore.
What about running a Linux to go removable disk and just pull it when you need to boot windows?
This would work but assumes the primary use of the machine is Windows and derates your performance under Linux significantly due to USB speeds. Even if you’re storing your data on the Windows HDD, NTFS drivers are dog slow compared to EXT4 and other *nix filesystems.
Also some BIOSes are a pain to get to boot off removable drives reliably so it really depends on what your machine is.
I’ve used Linux as a primary dev system for well over a decade now, and with the current state of Windows I’d really recommend just taking the leap, keep your Windows box if you need Windows software and build a dedicated Linux workstation.
You can keep only grub on the USB so windows can’t touch it. Avoids all those issues since the main install remains on the SSD.
Personally I just boot windows from usb. Rufus has the ability to install it there
This is a pretty good idea, my wife dual boots and I’ll suggest it to her as Windows keeps trashing the EFI partition.